TV Project 1: Kimono Coasters

Kimono silk is just something I can't resist, it's sexy makes me think of geisha.  It's also awkward to work with, since it is so sheer and thin.  I like to always have a project on the go that I can do while watching TV. So this is my TV project du jour.   

NOTE: The instructions for the rosettes can also be used to make the ones you saw on the boudoir pillow.  Imagine a pillow with kimono silks! Ooh la la, get your Valentine's horny on!

Level: Beginner
Time: 2 hours per coaster
Cost: $2 (approximately
Materials and Tools:
Hexagon template, size: 1 inch per side
Kimono silk scraps (or scraps of cotton quilt weight fabric) in three different patterns in similar colors.
1/2 yard of grey felt
Thread in contrasting color and matching color
Pins
Scrap paper
Needle
Iron
Scissors for fabric
Scissors for paper

- First cut seven hexagons out of scrap paper
- You are going to need one hexagon from one patterned fabric then three each from two additional patterns
- Place your paper hexagon onto the wrong side of your chosen fabric and pin in place
- Cut around the hexagon with a quarter inch seam allowance
- Fold the fabric seam over the paper and tack all the way round with the contrasting thread
- Remove pin
- Do this with all seven hexagons
- The one hexagon cut from a different fabric to the other six is the center of the rosette
- Take this hexagon and a hexagon of another pattern place them with right sides facing each other and sew the seams together with whip stitch
- Continue doing this until you have all six hexagons of alternating pattern sewn to the center one
- Iron your rosette so the seams are nice and sharp
- Remove the paper from the center hexagon and pin to the felt
- Cut out the felt so that the rosette is pinned to smaller piece of felt with some excess fabric around it.
- Remover one paper from an outer hexagon and pin to the fabric with the seam folded under
- Sew the edge with a running stitch
- Do this hexagon by hexagon until all edges are sewn to the felt
- Trim off the excess felt
- Press with iron
- DONE

Spring Update

Our living room, photo taken from the balcony above.


It seems as if the only time I post on my much-neglected blog is to explain why I have been away for so long! Yes, my life has been through various transitions over the last 3 years, multiple moves, jobs and plans.
Now I am finally, finally settled. No more renting, or living out of boxes. No more work spaces in closets and struggles to start a craft business.

My husband and I firmly ensconced in the house of our dreams, truly, and in the process of making it our own. Given the travels from UK, to Zambia (Africa), to here: Asheville, NC, US, settling and getting the house exactly as we want it is going to take some time. But isn't that part of the fun?

The house we have bought is spectacular (there, I have said it) open plan, LEED certified and beautifully modern. More pictures to come. The slightly industrial and minimalist style matches our taste and we have been happily buying vintage pieces to give it that mid-century modern flair.

It is this new house and our homemaking that spurred me to give this blog a bit of a make over. So 'For the Love Of' has been retired, to be replaced with the somewhat flamboyant name of 'The Modernist Craft Movement'. Why? Well as much as I love crafts, it is hard when quilting, embroidering and whatnot to create pieces that are contemporary and not-quaint. So I am on a mission, to embark on craft projects that I love as well as create things that I would have happily in my own house or on my own body!

Think of this blog as a work in progress (aren't all blogs?), an electronic notebook that I am sharing with whoever drops by. Please leave comments if you are inclined, it's nice to know that one is not typing into cold cyberspace, only to be lost in the millions of other craft sites out there!

Kimonos - true love forever

I have a problem when I get such beautiful fabrics, I can't bare to cut them up! I may not use this for a project but seam it and wear it as a scarf -yum!